My Little Girl
by omens
Summary: Craig reflects on the day of his daughter's wedding. Oneshot songfic.


**Title:** My Little Girl

**Rating:** G

**Genre:** Songfic/Drama

**Summary:** Craig reflects on the day of his daughter's wedding.

'My Little Girl' by Tim McGraw.

0...0

_Gotta hold on easy as I let you go.  
Gonna tell you how much I love you, though you think you already know.  
I remember I thought you looked like an angel wrapped in pink so soft and warm.  
You've had me wrapped around your finger since the day you were born._

My little girl is getting married today.

I thought I was prepared for this, but I'm not. I'm a wreck. But not Ellie. She's perfectly calm as she helps Julia with her veil. Maybe she's better equiped to cope with this since weddings are a girl thing anyway. She handled every detail of ours.

I wasn't even nervous then. Everyone around kept remarking on how calm we both were. But marrying Ellie was the best and most right thing I have ever done. How could I be nervous?

Other weddings I've been to over the past twenty some odd years that should have affected me didn't. Ash, Manny-nothing. Angie? I was happy for her. But never once did I feel like this. It's a happy occasion, but I feel like I'm losing something irreplaceable.

_You're beautiful baby from the outside in.  
Chase your dreams but always know the road that'll lead you home again.  
Go on, take on this whole world.  
But to me you know you'll always be my little girl. _

The last time I remember feeling anything close to this was when Ellie went into labor. I was terrified out of my mind when she woke me up. Good thing that cop let me go. I would have done something rash if he'd insisted on that speeding ticket.

The first time I saw my baby was when they laid her, swaddled in pink and still screaming, on Ellie's chest. I couldn't breath. All I could do was stare at this miniature version of my wife in complete awe. She was perfect. Fine wisps of red hair, eyes that were no doubt going to be brown, and the cute little button nose I loved so much.

It was Ellie's idea to name he after my mother. Just like it was her idea to ask Joey to be her godfather. Her good heart was the thing I hoped more than anything my daughter would inherit.

_When you were in trouble that crooked little smile could melt my heart of stone.  
Now look at you, I've turned around and you've almost grown.  
Sometimes you're asleep I whisper "I love you!" in the moonlight at your door.  
As I walk away, I hear you say, "Daddy love you more." _

I wasn't around as much as I should have been while she was growing up. There always seemed to be a concert or appearace or recording during the big moments in her life. I'd come back with lavish gifts that she loved and would hug me and always say "I love you Daddy."

It broke my heart the first time I left her. She was only three months old and I was so scared she would forget me. Ellie hugged me and whispered that she wouldn't. When she got a little older it would take her a few days to get used to me again after I hadd been gone awhile. Then came the times that she would cry inconsolably whenever I had to leave. Ellie would hold her as she cried and it was all I could do to go out the door. Her rebellious teenage years showed her to be our child indeed with the wild stunts she pulled. And I left the disciplining to Ellie because I never felt I had the right being away so much.

Just like I feel I don't have the right to be upset now when she's so happy.

I missed her first date. Her first dance. First party. Countless awards and games and recitals. Only got to tuck her in a few nights a month when she was little. Felt like a failure as a father.

_You're beautiful baby from the outside in.  
Chase your dreams but always know the road that'll lead you home again.  
Go on, take on this whole world.  
But to me you know you'll always be, my little girl. _

I remember with perfect clarity the day Ellie told me she was pregnant.

We had been married almost a year. My first world tour. We were in Greece in a hotel overlooking the ocean. And I cried when she told me and pressed my face against her stomach to promise the baby I'd be a better father than my own.

More than anything I wished I had kept that promise.

_Someday, some boy will come and ask me for your hand.  
But I won't say "yes" to him unless I know, he's the half  
that makes you whole, he has a poet's soul, and the heart of a man's man.  
I know he'll say that he's in love.  
But between you and me. He won't be good enough._

The day David came to ask for Julia's hand was one of the worst and best in my life. I both liked and resented the serious young man who knew my daughter better than I ever would. And I breifly wondered if Ellie's father had felt the same way when I asked for his blessing.

I said yes because I knew that it was the best thing I could do for my daughter. I had seen enough to know she loved David. And that was good enough for me.

She cried when she told Ellie and I later that night, showing off her ring with David at her side. And I felt my heart break when I hugged her. I had lost my baby a little bit every day since she was born. Now she was gone. She wasn't my little girl anymore.

_You're beautiful baby from the outside in.  
Chase your dreams but always know the road that'll lead you home again.  
Go on, take on this whole world.  
But to me you know you'll always be, my little girl. _

Ellie kissed my cheek before she went to the front of the church. I looked at my daughter, my baby girl, with all the love and regret to fill a thousand hearts. This was it.

The music began and I held my arm out to her, ready to walk her down the aisle. But not to give her away. She told the ushers to wait before they opened the doors.

She turned to me, eyes shining with tears of joy and hugged me. "I love you Daddy." she whispered.

"I love you too, baby." I said.

Now I'm ready.

0...0

_**A/N: Any good?**_


End file.
